ON WITCHES

Avitus of Vienne (c. 450–518 AD) was a bishop known for his Latin biblical poetry. Avitus of Vienne, who flourished under the Emperors Zeno and Anastasius around the year 490, expresses the very same opinion that we hold in most elegant verses in the second book of his work On Original Sin. Fulgosus writes in book 8, chapter 11, that these Egyptian enchanters were named Jannes and Mambres.

These enchanters, who practiced profane magic—or, if you prefer, were performers of illusions—are called original Hebrew: hartumim magicians by the Hebrews and original Greek: epōdoi enchanters by the Greeks. Likewise, their word original Hebrew: Habar Habar is translated into Latin as "to enchant," thence to sing in Greek, specifically when certain secret words are muttered by magicians, in which a marvelous efficacy is thought to reside. Such is that line from our Virgil:

The cold snake in the meadows is burst by the song.
Indeed, even David seems to indicate that such wonders are performed through these incantations when he mentions the "deaf asp" in Psalm 58. In that passage, he uses the word Habar, and simultaneously the word Lahas, which carries the same meaning.

ON THE WITCH IN ENDOR. Chap. II.

H

enceforth, we turn to the woman in Endor, the sorceress—or rather, the woman impregnated with a spirit of Python A "Pythoness" or "Pythia" refers to a medium or oracle, named after the Delphic serpent slain by Apollo.. People resort to her case as if she were one of the number of our modern witches. However, I shall endeavor to show that she was a conscious practitioner of the magic art who, relying on the assistance of a demon, mocked and deceived Saul—and therefore, she was quite different from our modern "witches" Weyer distinguishes between the biblical "sorceress" who consciously conspires with demons and the elderly women of his own day who he believed were merely suffering from mental delusions..

She is read to have summoned Samuel, as he ascended from the earth in his usual bodily appearance and clothing, predicting future events that were still placed in the hand of God. The author of The Book of Sirach, also called the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach. Ecclesiasticus also relates that these were the acts and prophecies of Samuel himself, when he says: "he fell asleep, and made known to the king the end of his life, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy, that the wickedness of the nations should be blotted out."

But although the circumstances of the history and Jesus Sirach seem to assert that Samuel himself appeared, I will show to anyone looking more deeply into the matter that it was not Samuel himself who was seen. Rather, it was a specter of the devil in his likeness, which willingly obeyed the woman of Python in order to play a trick.

First, the divine voice, in a clear and severe edict, forbade the truth to be sought from the dead, establishing the penalty of death. God does not wish the living to be taught by the dead, nor does He want any revelations to be expected from them. Deuteronomy 18. "Let there not be found among you anyone who consults the dead: for he who does this is an abomination original: βδέλυγμα (bdelygma) to his God." This means it is a thing which God hates, detests, and casts into eternal damnation. Furthermore, Christ wished for us to lean most firmly upon His word, in which He expressly declared Himself and His will, saying: Luke 16. "They have Moses and the prophets."

The souls of the blessed do not obey the songs of magicians.

Furthermore, the idea that the souls of the dead are summoned from their God-appointed resting places by the chants of sorceresses and forced into unburied bodies is either utterly false, or it would mean that their souls are not safe even in the "bosom of Abraham" (the place assigned to the blessed), preserved in the hand of the Lord. But it has been confessed until now that Satan never had any power over the souls of the saints after death, nor do good spirits obey magic arts. Nor do souls, once separated from their bodies and settled in their defined places, return if they are recalled, as the Pagans were persuaded. Instead, demons show themselves in the borrowed likeness of those souls. Therefore, they received answers not from the dead themselves, but from demons dressed in their habit; these were called necromancy original: νεκυομαντεῖας (nekyomanteias), divination by the dead.. If they were seen in the complete and distinct bodies of the dead, they were necromancies necromancies original: νεκυομαντεῖαι; but if they surrounded themselves with thin, misty, and vanishing shadows, they were called sciomancies sciomancies original: σκιωμαντείαι (skiomanteiai), divination by shadows.. Truly did An influential early Christian theologian (c. 347–407 AD). Chrysostom say: In Matthew, homily 29. "It is not the soul of the deceased that says, 'I am such-and-such a soul,' but the demon who says these things, so that he might deceive men..."